By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes ….
The America the Beautiful Quarters Program debuted on the heels of the 50 State Quarters Program and its adjunct District of Columbia and Territories program.
Authorized by Public Law 110–456, the America the Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008, called for the “issuance of redesigned quarters dollars emblematic of national parks or other national sites in each state, the District of Columbia, and each territory”.
Similar to the issuance order of the 50 State Quarters Program, America the Beautiful National Parks quarters are issued one per state, based on the order in which the selected site were first established as a National Park.
The Fort McHenry Quarter
Fort McHenry is best known as the place where, during the tWar of 1812 at the Battle of Baltimore, Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner. The song became the national anthem on March 3, 1931, exactly six years after the fort became a historical site managed by the National Park Service.
The coin was released on August 26, 2013.
Interestingly, the lower-case “c” in FORT McHENRY is one of a small number of instances on U.S. coinage where an inscription is not in upper case (though any inscription including the syllable “Mc” tends to employ a lower-case “c”; the ordinal numbers, when spelled out, also tend to use lower case).
Astute observers may notice that the flag on the reverse has 15 stars, when by September 1812 there were 18 states in the Union. That’s because the 15-star flag–the flag immortalized as the Star-Spangled Banner–was in use from 1795 until 1818, by which time it was replaced by a flag with 20 stars.
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Market Data and Noteworthy Specimens
The PCGS census reports five coins in MS70 and none in MS69. This suggests a data entry error.
Top Population: PCGS MS68 (18, 10/2024), NGC MS68 (114, 10/2024), and CAC None Graded (10/2024).
- PCGS MS66 #82268765: eBay, August 1, 2024 – $16.95.
- Uncirculated Roll (40 Coins, $10 face): eBay, October 2, 2024 – $24.95.
- Mint Sewn Bag (100 Coins, $25 face): eBay, August 15, 2024 – $45.
- Mint Sealed Roll (40 Coins, $10 face): eBay, July 30, 2024 – $19.95.
Design
Obverse:
A modern reworking of John Flanagan’s Washington Quarter design. Founding Father and first President George Washington’s left-facing bust sits in the center of the coin. Flanagan’s initials JF are visible in the bust truncation. Wrapping clockwise around the top of the coin is the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. To Washington’s left is the inscription LIBERTY; to his right, the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. The coin’s denomination wraps around the bottom of the coin, written as QUARTER DOLLAR.
Reverse:
Future Chief Engraver Joseph Menna designed the reverse, which features Fort McHenry during the annual “Defenders Day” celebration in Maryland on September 12. This means that the explosions as portrayed on the coin are actually fireworks, and not the “rocket’s red glare” of the British attack on the fort during the War of 1812. Inscriptions running counterclockwise along the rim at the bottom include FORT McHENRY, MARYLAND, the date 2013, and the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM.
Edge:
The edge of the 2013-S Fort McHenry National Monument Quarter is reeded.
Designers
Born in New Jersey in 1865, John Flanagan lived in New York for most of his life. He began working with Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1884 at the age of 20 and quickly became a well-known sculptor and medallic artist in his own right. Saint-Gaudens made introductions for Flanagan at the United States Mint. While the Washington Quarter was his sole numismatic design, Flanagan designed numerous famous medals and sculptures, including the official medal of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, the official Verdun medal gifted to France by the United States Government, and the 1924 bust of Saint-Gaudens. Flanagan was also a member of the American Numismatic Society (ANS).
United States Mint engraver Joseph Menna has more than three dozen coin and medal designs to his credit since joining the Mint in 2005. He became Chief Engraver in 2019 (View Designer’s Profile).
2013-S Fort McHenry America the Beautiful Quarter Coin Specifications
| Country: | United States of America |
| Year of Issue: | 2013 |
| Denomination: | Quarter Dollar (25 Cents USD) |
| Mintmark: | S (San Francisco) |
| Mintage: | 1,313,680 |
| Alloy: | .750 copper, .250 nickel outer layers bonded to pure copper inner core |
| Weight: | 5.67 g |
| Diameter: | 24.30 mm |
| Edge: | Reeded |
| OBV Designer: | John Flanagan |
| REV Designer: | Joseph Menna |
| Quality: | Business Strike |
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